Flyers win 4th in a row
TORONTO - Who are these guys?
Last week, after rolling over against the Rangers, the Flyers were left for dead. They were seven points back of a playoff spot on March 27, with six teams to jump over.
Insert seven new, no-name players into the lineup since last week and suddenly - after a gutty, 5-3 win over the Maple Leafs at a sterile Air Canada Centre on Thursday - the less-talented Flyers are inexplicably in the heart of the hunt with four consecutive wins.
Twenty bucks to the first hockey nerd who could actually name defenseman Kent Huskins and his team before his arrival on Sunday.
Consider the vast changes in the Flyers' lineup since last Tuesday's loss:
Out: Braydon Coburn, Zac Rinaldo, Max Talbot, Andrej Meszaros, Kurtis Foster, Tye McGinn and Michael Leighton.
In: Jay Rosehill, Huskins, Adam Hall, Oliver Lauridsen, Mike Knuble, Erik Gustafsson and Steve Mason.
When you consider that Simon Gagne wasn't acquired until last month, only 12 of the 20 players on the Flyers' roster on Thursday night actually started the season with the team. It's a motley crew - a collection of veteran retreads and overlooked prospects.
And it has worked. The Flyers have earned a point in five straight games and they're now within two points of the eighth-place Rangers with 11 games to play. They face 10th-place Winnipeg, a team one point ahead, on Saturday for a chance to be in a playoff position.
"We may not have as much skill in the lineup," said Luke Schenn, who iced the game with an empty-netter, "but guys seem to be working real hard. We're playing together and playing a lot smarter."
The Flyers earned only their fifth road win of the season (5-12-1) just 24 hours after dispatching Montreal - and did it against a Toronto team that hadn't played since Saturday.
"First and foremost, it was a hard-working win, from the time the puck dropped until the very end," coach Peter Laviolette said. "We knew it was going to be a tough game, a physical game. Coming off of that [win Wednesday night] and having to come back and travel, I thought guys really dug in for that win."
They got contributions from everyone. Rosehill fought and scored his first goal as a Flyer in his first game - and his first NHL goal in nearly 26 months. Huskins blocked four shots and was a plus-2. Gustafsson netted his first career multipoint game. Even Hall, after joining two new teams in the previous 48 hours, chipped in on the penalty kill.
The new-look Flyers have a confidence that's been missing all season.
"When you win, it gets better fast," said Gagne, who opened the scoring 79 seconds in. "Every guy who has been jumping into the lineup has elevated their game and it's made a huge difference. We're not dead yet. [The playoffs are] still there for us. I think the more we play, the more we play with confidence."
Laviolette said he's had a feeling over the last week that "we're going to go out there and work hard." That guarantee is something that the Flyers - who on paper were more talented than many of their opponents - had not been able to make over the first 33 games of the season.
Brayden Schenn said maybe the injuries have forced the Flyers to be more efficient and opportunistic. The old saying is that hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard.
"We may not have our full lineup, but we can still work harder than everyone else," Brayden Schenn said.
"I just really like the way we're playing right now," Laviolette said. "It's almost contagious. Shift after shift, nobody wants to let each other down with the work ethic right now."
Regardless of the roster, the Flyers have a refreshing attitude in the locker room - and it shows on the ice.
"Things can turn around really fast," Bruno Gervais said. "The season is far from over."
Timonen hurt
Nearly running out of gas due to fatigue, the Flyers pulled off the nailbiter without defenseman Kimmo Timonen. He left the game with 11:22 remaining in the third period.
Timonen, one of four Flyers to skate in all 37 games, left with an undisclosed injury. He left the arena limping, which would suggest a "lower-body" injury. His status for Saturday is unknown.
Slap shots
Chris Pronger accompanied the Flyers on their charter flight to Toronto. "I just want to watch hockey," Pronger said. There's no change in his health status . . . Forward Adam Hall, plucked off waivers from Tampa Bay on Wednesday, made his Flyers debut without so much as a morning skate to get acclimated. Tye McGinn was scratched for Hall . . . Kurtis Foster cleared waivers Wednesday and remained with the team . . . Injured defenseman Nick Grossmann (upper-body), who has been listed as "day-to-day" for more than 10 days, did not travel with the team.
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